What do a secretary, an administrative assistant and a receptionist have in common? Beyond their daily responsibilities, they share a characteristic that has become increasingly significant today: these occupations are heavily gender-segregated and are also among those most exposed to replacement by generative artificial intelligence (AI). Tasks such as drafting reports, responding to emails, managing schedules and processing data can now be completed in seconds by digital systems.
Over the past few months, much of the discussion surrounding AI and women’s employment has focused on the risks. Various international organizations have warned that technological transformation is progressing unevenly across industries and occupations, and that its negative effects on women are already becoming evident in today’s labor market.
However, reducing the debate to a narrative of job losses overlooks another equally important development: many organizations are already investing in reskilling programs aimed at transforming women’s work rather than replacing it. This could represent a significant step toward narrowing gender gaps in the labor market.
Technology does not necessarily eliminate people, but it eliminates certain tasks
Available evidence suggests that the growing use of digital technologies in the workplace is increasing demand for skills that AI still cannot fully replicate, including high-level complex thinking as well as social and interpersonal competencies, particularly emotional intelligence. Because AI continues to have important limitations, automation based on these technologies could simultaneously increase demand for work involving creativity, cognition, planning, decision-making, management and caregiving. In these fields, people continue to outperform machines—or currently remain the only ones capable of carrying out certain essential tasks.
Some of the world’s largest companies are investing in preparing female employees to take on more complex, autonomous and strategically valuable roles. Instead of spending most of their time on repetitive activities, workers are being trained to coordinate projects, interpret data, supervise AI tools, improve customer experience and participate in decision-making processes.
One of the best-known examples is Amazon, which has invested more than one billion dollars in training and workforce reskilling programs for hundreds of thousands of employees. Through initiatives such as Career Choice, the company finances education and professional certifications that enable operational and administrative workers to transition into technology-related roles, data analytics, advanced logistics, digital support and automated systems management. The company’s stated objective is not merely to respond to technological change, but to create opportunities for its workforce to evolve alongside it.
Johanna Pabón, a Venezuelan migrant living in Canada, works at Amazon as a warehouse worker, handling package dispatch and returns, which is a repetitive, physically demanding job. She chose to enroll in the Career Choice program to earn a certification in human resources, which she is about to complete. “These opportunities are available to every employee at any level, completely free of charge and recognized by highly ranked colleges across North America. They’ve recently added AI and technology training because many of those tasks will eventually be performed by machines. I feel much more confident now, especially because I suffered an injury, and thanks to this course I now have other opportunities both inside and outside the company.”
Her experience is particularly noteworthy because it illustrates the transition from an operational position to a more specialized role, demonstrating how training can become an effective alternative to technological displacement.
A similar approach can be seen at Accenture, which has implemented large-scale AI literacy programs across its entire workforce. The company believes that the ability to work alongside intelligent systems will become a core competency, as essential in the future as internet literacy and productivity software skills are today.
In Latin America, one of the most representative examples is Bancolombia, which has prioritized reskilling its own workforce as part of its digital transformation. The bank has developed training programs in data analytics, automation and AI, enabling employees in support functions to transition into higher-value digital roles. These strategies are particularly important in Latin America, where women remain concentrated in administrative occupations that are especially vulnerable to automation.
A reality that often goes unnoticed
Women continue to be underrepresented in technology-related fields while simultaneously being overrepresented in occupations most susceptible to automation. Without labor transition programs intentionally designed for women, these inequalities are likely to widen. Conversely, when organizations provide training, mentoring, professional certifications and ongoing support, AI can become a vehicle for career mobility and professional growth rather than a threat.
The transformation of work also presents another fundamental challenge: an increasing number of companies now use algorithms to screen résumés, evaluate candidates and recommend hiring decisions. Although these tools promise greater efficiency, they can also reproduce the biases embedded in the data on which they were trained. To address this issue, many organizations are implementing oversight and auditing mechanisms for their recruitment systems. These evaluations help identify unjustified differences in hiring rates between women and men, allowing companies to adjust their models before they produce systematic discrimination.
Another significant development is the decision to maintain human oversight over final hiring decisions. Rather than delegating the entire process to AI, the most responsible organizations use algorithms as decision-support tools rather than substitutes for professional judgment. As Johanna Pabón puts it: “I’m all in favor of robotics, but AI should be a tool for making decisions, not an authority that replaces human judgment and human presence.”
This combination of technological innovation and human oversight seeks to reduce both historical human biases and the hidden gender biases that can emerge in automated systems.
What really matters
AI is reshaping the world of work at an unprecedented pace. But the discussion should not focus exclusively on how many jobs might disappear. It should also examine the opportunities that can be created if the transition is managed effectively.
The most promising experiences demonstrate that investment in training, equitable access to digital skills, continuous oversight of algorithms and the active participation of women in designing new technologies are essential ingredients for building a more inclusive labor market.
Moreover, some organizations have recognized that protecting female talent requires much more than rhetoric about equality. It demands concrete investment in training, mentoring and new professional opportunities. That is why the fundamental question both public and private organizations should now be asking themselves is this: Are we investing enough to ensure that women benefit from technological transformation rather than being left behind by it?
Autor
Psicóloga. Master en Políticas Públicas con enfoque de género. Especialista en Transformación Cultural y Coaching Ontológico. Directora de FeminismoINC. Autora de "Incomodar para Transformar" y "Atrevidas: Manual de trabajo personal por el activismo feminista".
